The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd takes place in South Carolina beginning in 1739 when Eliza Lucas is 16 years old. Her father, an ambitious military man, leaves three plantations in Eliza's charge while he leaves to pursue military ambitions in Antigua which is an area of Spanish conflict. Eliza, who has a desire to learn botany and make her family's plantations thrive, takes on the difficult task of plants that produce indigo dye and much in demand by the French. Among her obstacles are a surly, cruel overseer and a mother who wants the plantation to fail so that she can return to her refined life in England, Eliza is also of marriageable age and tries to avoid would be suitors. She finds out that her father has mortgaged the family properties to purchase commissions in the military, a common practice at that time.
The novel is based on the life of Eliza Lucas Pinckney.
